Honorary graduates January 2018 Nina Stibbe

The writer and novelist Nina Stibbe, whose works which include Love, Nina and Man at the Helm feature Leicestershire, received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from our University at our graduation ceremonies on Thursday 25 January.

Nina Stibbe was born and grew up with three siblings in Leicester. After spells working in a nursing home and as a dental nurse, she left Leicester to work as a nanny in London.

She is the author of Love, Nina – winner of the Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award at the National Book Awards 2014 and shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year. The book was BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week upon publication and was adapted into a 5-part series for BBC television which aired in 2016. Love, Nina was based upon letters written to her sister back in Leicestershire detailing her experiences of mingling with literary figures such as Alan Bennett, Jonathan Miller, Claire Tomalin and Michael Frayn during her time as a nanny in London.

Nina Stibbe said: “To be recognised by the University of Leicester, in my hometown, in the centenary year of women first getting the vote is the biggest honour of my life. I am absolutely thrilled.”